A fiber optic connector disclosed in EP application 90200113.0, publication number 0,374,136, comprises, two mating housing halves that interlock, and the rear ends of the housing halves close over a flexible strain relief that encircles an optical fiber cable. The strain relief can bend along an arc to bend the cable along a corresponding arc. A bend in the optical fibers of the cable causes attenuation of an optical signal being transmitted along the fibers. Such signal attenuation or weakening is referred to as being caused by optical bend losses. Care is required to prevent a severe bend in any optical fiber in the cable, such a bend being described as severe if such a bend exceeds a minimum bend radius of curvature that would cause undesired attenuation of an optical signal transmitted along the fiber. A severe bend is avoided in the known connector by extending a front of the cable straight from the connector, and passing the cable along a straight front portion of the strain relief before allowing the cable to bend in an arc that begins in a rearward portion of the strain relief.
Instead of extending the cable straight from the connector, it is sometimes desired to point the cable in a specified angular direction from where the cable projects from the housing halves. Heretofore, the strain relief has been unable to point the cable in an angular direction without causing a severe bend in each corresponding optical fiber of the cable.